A Mansfield ISD art teacher suspended last fall after at least one parent complained that she had discussed her sexual orientation with students has returned to the classroom — but at a different school in the district.

Stacy Bailey, 32, will teach art at Lake Ridge High School for the 2018-19 school year. She began at Lake Ridge Monday and will teach grades nine through 12, district officials said Friday. Classes begin August 15.

Mansfield, Texas, art teacher Stacy Bailey has been on paid administrative leave since fall 2017 for allegedly talking about her same-sex wife to students. She is expected to report for work at Mansfield's Lake Ridge High School for the first day of class on August 15, 2018. (Handout photo)

(Handout/TNS)

Her attorney, Jason C.N. Smith saidthat Bailey has never taught high school and her transfer to Lake Ridge High was a "negative change with an increased workload and a steep learning curve."

Bailey has gone from teaching at a Charlotte Anderson Elementary School, with 500 students, to a Lake Ridge High School, with more than 2,600 students, Smith said.

"Stacy was an excellent elementary school teacher and her experience and talents are not being put to their best use outside of that setting," he said. "That's too bad for Mansfield ISD students."

Hope Boyd, a spokeswoman for Mansfield Independent School District, confirmed via email that Bailey had returned to work this week with the rest of the district's teachers.

She said the district's internal investigation of Bailey was concluded, but she did not give any additional details.

"As a district, Mansfield ISD does not discuss personnel matters," Boyd said via email. "Furthermore, any other details cannot be discussed because they are matters of pending litigation."

Bailey filed a federal lawsuit in May accusing the district, Superintendent Jim Vaszauskas and Associate Superintendent Kimberley Cantu of violating her rights under federal and state equal protection laws and Texas Equal Rights Amendment.

Smith said Friday Bailey's suit requests that she be reinstated to Charlotte Anderson Elementary.

In an emailed statement in May, Mansfield ISD "categorically" denied the allegations and said the suit had no merit.

Mansfield ISD asked the lawsuit to be dismissed Friday for "failure to state a claim." The district's response to her lawsuit claims Bailey was not suspended for her sexual orientation, but because she had discussed "same-sex marriage with her 2nd grade art class, and that artist Jasper Johns had a male 'life partner,' Robert Rauchenberg, with her 4th grade art class."

"Parents complained about her statements to their children, not her status," Mansfield's response states. It also says Mansfield has employed several people of the same sexual orientation as Bailey and "has not discriminated against her or any other employee because of that.

Mansfield ISD placed Bailey on paid leave in September, saying parents had the right to "control the conversation with their children, especially as it relates to religion, politics, sex/sexual education, etc."

The controversy started after Bailey showed a "First Day of School" PowerPoint presentation to her students on Aug. 23, 2017, according to her lawsuit. Her presentation, aimed at engaging with her students, included photos of her parents, her family, her friends and her fiancee, Julie Vazquez, who is now her wife.

According to Bailey's lawyer, this photo of Bailey and Julie Vazquez, then her fiancee and now her wife, is what she showed her pupils in her slideshow. According to her lawsuit, a parent later complained to the school board and superintendent that Bailey was promoting the "homosexual agenda" by talking about her "future wife

(Handout)

In the suit, Bailey says she was approached by Sheira Petty, Anderson Elementary principal, a few days after showing the PowerPoint to her class and was told a parent had complained to the school board and Vaszauskas that she was promoting the "homosexual agenda" by talking about her "future wife."

Bailey then met with Cantu on Aug. 25, 2017 to discuss the parent's complaint.

When Bailey asked about adding LGBTQ protections to the district's anti-discrimination policy to avoid similar incidents, the suit says, Cantu told Bailey she was right and that it was "time to get the ball rolling on that." But that Bailey needed to "realize this is Mansfield and there could be some pushback." Cantu also told Bailey during their meeting that she had done nothing wrong, the suit says.

Bailey then emailed the school board to ask that "it enact policy expressly prohibiting discrimination against lesbians and gays," the suit says.

On Sept. 8, Cantu took Bailey out of her class for a second meeting after the same parent complained a second time, according to the suit.

Cantu allegedly told Bailey the complaint indicated she had shown "sexually inappropriate images to children," but her suit says she had done no such thing. Cantu then asked Bailey to sign documentation saying she would be placed on administrative leave with pay.

Records obtained by The Dallas Morning News show Cantu sent Bailey a letter Sept. 8, 2017 notifying her that the district was putting her on leave with pay "until an investigation is completed." The letter gave no reason for her suspension.

In late April, the school board renewed Bailey's teaching contract for the 2018-19 school year. But Bailey's suit says that district officials had requested her resignation last October, and that after renewing her contract, the district had reassigned her to a "secondary school."

Kennedy Bruner, 10-year-old former student of art teacher Stacy Bailey holds a piece of artwork Bailey drew and presented her at the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield on March 27, 2018. (Steve Hamm/Special Contributor)

(Steve Hamm/Special Contributor)

On April 24, school board President Raul Gonzalez read a statement saying that the district's anti-discrimination policy would be handled through a policy review committee and that committee assignments would be made after the May election.

Some people have come out against changing the policy and against Bailey. The Tarrant County Republican Party issued a statement in late April urging residents to attend a school board meeting and send emails asking trustees not to change the anti-discrimination policy.

In a statement sent out in May, the Christian advocacy group Texas Values urged Mansfield ISD to "stand for parental rights and not back down."